Oklahoma is latest abortion rights battleground

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP 2009 file photoAbortion rights and anti-abortion demonstrators marched in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling.Anyone concerned about keeping government from getting between doctors and their patients should be upset about what happened last week in Oklahoma.

Republican legislators overrode their Democratic governor’s veto to pass a law forcing a woman who chooses abortion to first undergo an ultrasound of the fetus. The law requires her doctor to describe details of the image and turn the screen so the patient can view it. There is no exception for a woman who is a victim of incest or rape. One Tulsa clinic, complying with the law, reported women leaving in tears — but said none canceled an abortion.

Oklahoma’s legislature also adopted a law, again over the governor’s veto, that prevents parents from suing doctors who withhold information about fetal birth defects. So a doctor in Oklahoma who thinks a couple might abort an infant with birth defects can safely keep mum, thereby robbing a man and a woman of the right to make one of the most critical decisions of their lives.

These are just the latest efforts to infringe on women’s rights to reproductive choice established by Roe v. Wade in 1973. There will be legal challenges; a temporary restraining order was issued yesterday blocking the ultrasound law pending court hearings.

Cases like this demonstrate why abortion remains, unfortunately, a key consideration in choosing justices for the U.S. Supreme Court. President Obama, who will soon nominate a successor to Justice John Paul Stevens, has said there’s no litmus test on any one issue. But he did say, “I want somebody who is going to be interpreting our Constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, including women’s rights.” He’ll need to stiffen his spine for the fight that awaits him on this issue. He should take heart from a national poll earlier this month by CBS News and the New York Times, which found 58 percent of those polled support Roe v. Wade.

No one wants to see abortions increase. A civil and respectful discussion about how to reduce abortions has been sorely lacking in political discussions. But trying to shame women facing a difficult choice accomplishes nothing while leaving both sides polarized. As they have been, for nearly 40 years.